Dell's Good, Bad & Ugly Movie Reviews

[dell71]

The Other Guys
Directed by Adam McKay.
2010. Rated PG-13, 107 minutes.
Cast:
Will Ferrell
Mark Wahlberg
Eva Mendes
Steve Coogan
Michael Keaton
Damon Wayans Jr
Rob Riggle
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson
Samuel L. Jackson
Natalie Zea

After the death of the city’s two most heroic cops, Det. Hoitz (Wahlberg) decides it’s time for he and his partner Det. Gamble (Ferrell) to step up and fill the void. The problem is heroism doesn’t come easy for these gents. Hoitz is a hothead, itching to get into some real action while Gamble’s name is pure irony since he’s perfectly content to sit at his desk all day, every day.

The vast majority of people reading this will either love this movie or hate it to no end. In other words, it’s a Will Ferrell comedy. Over the top stupidity is the default mode of humor. Occasionally, something slyly intelligent sneaks onto the screen. If you’re already laughing at the stupid stuff, you’ll howl when something smart happens. If you’re not already laughing, these will be the few occasions you’ll chuckle, just a bit.

Ferrell returns to the familiarity of his best known characters. He’s well meaning and high-spirited, but also a bit neurotic and certainly naïve. Of course, in every buddy cop flick, the buddies have to be polar opposites. Therefore, Wahlberg plays Hoitz as high strung, ready to jump into the fray, but still generally down on himself for some mistakes he’s made. Their contrasting personalities is just the first of the action flick clichés put through the ringer. There are many to be skewered and The Other Guys tries to hit as many of them as possible. My favorite being Gamble’s rant on people coolly strolling away from explosions in the movies.

Knowing that this movie is aware how dumb it is may be the key to enjoying it. If you take it seriously, either as an action flick or a comedy, you’ll be severely disappointed. If taken as a riff on the action-comedy genre then you might have fun with it. Even so, I will grant that some jokes either go on too long or simply fall flat right away. While it’s not one of Ferrell’s best, it definitely has its moments. This movie succeeds in most areas where Kevin Smith’s Cop Out tries and fails miserably. TOG actually works in some areas.

There is one thing TOG takes seriously. Unfortunately, that one thing is product placement. The brand-name dropping and label shots reach distracting proportions. Perhaps worst of all, it often feels like a really long commercial for the Toyota Prius. Everyone in the movie cracks jokes about it, but when push comes to shove, she performs like a champ. I’m still not even thinking about buying one, so there.

In the end, this is a take it or leave it sort of picture. It’s exceedingly dumb, but in enough of the right spots. If you’re a glass half full type and think dumb can work, take it. If you think that dumb is just dumb and should be ignored, leave it. Better yet, how much do you like Will Ferrell?

MY SCORE: 6.5/10

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

I saw The Other Guys on HBO...was awful.

[Rivers17ncsu]

ehh I though The Other Guys was pretty good, better than I thought it would be. And this is coming from someone who dislikes majority of WF's movies

[dell71]

Abar: The First Black Superman
Directed by Frank Packard.
1977. Rated PG, 87 minutes.
Cast:
Tobar Mayo
J. Walter Smith
Roxie Young
Dee Turguand
Gladys Lum
Tony Rumford
Rupert Williams
Tina James

Let’s get this out of the way, immediately. Abar: The First Black Superman has as much in common with the Superman you’re thinking of as your dear old grandma slipping on a banana peel and breaking her hip. Aside from the Blaxploitation habit of interjecting the word ‘black’ into the title whenever possible (The Black Godfather, The Black Six, The Black Gestapo, etc), I’ve no idea why it’s given such a name. It could’ve easily been simply called “Abar”. This begs the question, what is this about, anyway?

It all starts with a subject that, if treated properly, can make a really good movie. Obviously, it’s the 1970s and Dr. Kincaid (Smith) has just moved his family into a brand new home in an affluent neighborhood.The problem is he and his family are black while all of his new neighbors are white. Within minutes, the white residents form a picket line in front of the Kincaid home and start engaging in menacing behavior. This is a situation that occurred with regularity across the U.S. during this era, so examination of such a topic feels warranted. Hindsight tells us those occasions when the black families were not successfully run off led to the phenomenon that became known as “white flight.” Basically, whites moved out of neighborhoods when blacks moved in. With all of this going through my head, I’m thinking this could be interesting. It certainly is, just not quite the way I expected.

By the way, Dr. Kincaid’s first name is not Abar. Abar (Mayo) is the leader of the local Black Panther styled organization the B.F.U., the Black Front of Unity. I’ve already told you it was only a few minutes after the Kincaids moved in that picket lines formed. Well, a minute after that it was announced on whatever radio station the B.F.U. was listening to that a black family moved into New Meadow Park and is having serious issues with the white folks. Abar and his crew mount their motorcycles and head over to help out the good doc. When they get there, all the Caucasians scatter. For the next 45 minutes to an hour Abar, who gets hired to be a live-in bodyguard for the Kincaids, takes care of anyone trying to do harm to them. Mind you, he has no superpowers so the title is starting to fade from our consciousness.

What keeps the entire movie from fading away is the massively inept filmmaking. Unintentional humor is off the charts in this one. It starts with the dialogue. Whoever wrote it apparently never had a real conversation. All of the words do sound like words people would actually say, but not at all the way the would say them. Each person dutifully waits his or her turn to speak while the other person completes their entire point. It doesn’t sound like much, but if you see it you’ll understand. To make matters worse, most of the actors deliver their lines as if they’ve no idea what they’re saying. It’s clear they’ve memorized their lines, but lack the chops to make them believable. On the other hand, Smith as Dr. Kincaid is overacting mightily. You can literally see him “acting”. When contrasted with the rest, it’s like he’s trying to do Olivier’s “Hamlet” in a fifth grade drama class.

The dialogue isn’t only to blame. Judging from the exterior shots, the Kincaid home seems to be about three different houses. The movie seems to have been shot using several different types of film as the look vacillates between them. The fight scenes are laughable. The B.F.U. mostly does nothing. Oh, and just to bring it back to the dialogue, Abar often uses a lot of words to tell Dr. Kincaid “I don’t like you, I’m only helping you out because you’re black.” This brings us to MLK. From time to time the filmmakers inject excerpts of his “I Have a Dream” speech while some character appears to be in deep though. It’s jarring because it is such a great speech in such a bad movie.

What about this whole Superman thing? The reason Dr. Kincaid bought this troublesome house is because its close to the hospital where he works. He’s engrossed in inventing some sort of serum that will better mankind. Ohhh…kkkkaaaayyyy…shouldn’t that make this “The First Black Captain America”? If you don’t get it, you will whenever that movie comes out. Anyhoo, Kincaid has been testing this on his lab rabbits, PETA be damned. He’s also decided that Abar is the perfect specimen to be the first human given the serum. He propositions Abar and assures his would-be guinea pig that he’s serious by shooting the rabbit. No worries, animal freaks. The rabbit doesn’t even blink. Abar examines the gun himself and responds with this gem: “You know I don’t believe this, right?” Huh?

Long story short, unlike this review, Abar eventually drinks the serum and flees Dr. Kincaid’s house. The doc suddenly think Abar’s gone mad and goes after him, looking to kill him before serum takes effect in three hours. Needless to say, this fails and we get a look at Abar’s new found abilities. Forget about flying and heat vision and all that stuff, though he does start dressing in a snazzy blue suit with a red shirt. Yup, that’s as close to a Superman reference as you’ll get. Take it and like it. Abar can now control your thoughts and actions. He actually makes a purse-snatcher run back a number of blocks to the old lady he robbed and give her purse back. That’s just one of many moments that aren’t meant to be, but are uproariously funny.

The whole movie is simply bonkers in its execution. If you really try to do a serious examination of all the things wrong with it, you’ll give yourself a headache. You’re much better off resigning yourself to the fact it’s so bad, it’s awesome!

MY SCORE: -10/10

[dell71]

Green Lantern: First Flight
Directed by Lauren Montgomery.
2009. Rated PG-13, 77 minutes.
Cast:
Christopher Meloni
Victor Garber
Tricia Helfer
Michael Madsen
John Laroquette
Kurtwood Smith
Larry Drake
Olivia d’Abo
Richard McGonagle

An alien crash-lands on Earth. Speaking to the very special ring he’s wearing, he tells it to go forth and find his successor. The ring picks pilot Hal Jordan (Meloni) and brings him to the fallen visitor. Just before the visitor passes away, he informs Hal that he is now a “Green Lantern,” one of the defenders of the universe. He also tells Hall that The Guardians will send for him. By the way, the rings gives him all sorts of powers and allows him to do pretty much whatever he can think of, including flying. The next day, four other Green Lanterns show up and whisk Hal off to another planet so The Guardians can evaluate him.

Hal is thrust into the middle of the investigation of the murder of Abin Sur (McGonagle), the guy that flew all the way to Earth to die. High ranking Lantern Sinestro (Garber) offers to take the earthling under his wing to “see what he’s made of.” Hal discovers Sinestro is a bit aggressive in his interrogations and feels handcuffed by The Guardians, limiting his abilities in cleaning up the universe. Hal is also informed that someone has stolen the precious Yellow Element which is the only thing that can overpower the Green Element that powers the Lanterns.

From there, we get a police procedural trying to ascertain the identity and whereabouts of the thief who’s taken the Yellow Element. It is made abundantly clear that whoever is responsible can, and certainly will try to gain control of the entire universe. With all of that on their collective plate, you can imagine the Lanterns get testy with one another from time to time. In particular, new guy Hal draws the most ire, basically because he’s the new guy.

Green Lantern: First Flight is solidly written and has some entertaining action scenes. Of course, the action really cranks up near the end as our villain and his cause become known. The problem is the movie goes against its own logic in order to achieve the prerequisite happy ending. It’s not a deal-breaker, but questions are easily raised.

Overall, this is a solid entry into the DC canon. It gives us an origin story without dragging us through all the years of Hal Jordan’s life prior to getting the ring. The twist in the investigation is spotted a bit too easily, but still leads us to a fun finale. The lingering question is, will the live-action version starring Ryan Reynolds as our hero be better or worse?

MY SCORE: 7/10

[St. Francisco]

I am still patiently awaiting your Ink review. Where is it on your infinite list?

[dell71]

I am still patiently awaiting your Ink review. Where is it on your infinite list?

Not sure exactly where but it's patiently waiting in line...trying to get to "The Fighter," "Easy A," "The American," this weekend, then maybe "Tron: Legacy" or "Tangled" and another classic or two. I'm only one guy but I'm working on it.

[Buzzman]

I propose you watch all those movies first. Really can't wait to hear what you have to say about The American. One of my most anticipated movies last year that just fell flat on its face.

[Rivers17ncsu]

If I liked PA2 "way more" than you then you must have thought it was the worst thing going. If I had to sum up my review of it in one word, I would say "meh" (if that's really a word). I actually did really like the original. This one, not so much.

I thought both were very bad IMO. Neither was entertaining IMO. I'll admit that I can be easily scared so I expected to be scared watching those movies when thinking bout the hype of them. However I just found myself very bored with both, felt like I wasted time with both of them. Only part in the first movie that got me was the ending. I actually watched both with my dad because he has been a horror fan since he was a kid, he found both movies hysterically bad.

I guess it is just a different opinion, me and my close friends both thought they were very bad, but then I saw people who actually found them scary.

[stevsta]

I thought both were very bad IMO. Neither was entertaining IMO. I'll admit that I can be easily scared so I expected to be scared watching those movies when thinking bout the hype of them. However I just found myself very bored with both, felt like I wasted time with both of them. Only part in the first movie that got me was the ending. I actually watched both with my dad because he has been a horror fan since he was a kid, he found both movies hysterically bad.

I guess it is just a different opinion, me and my close friends both thought they were very bad, but then I saw people who actually found them scary.

I think that in order to be entertained and frightened by the PA movies you have to go in accepting that there are such things as spirits, demons, and whatever as well as putting yourself in the shoes of those in the movie

Its completely understandable if a person looks at the movie does not believe in paranormal stuff and only sees things as props being moved by a machine or person

of course their could be other reasons people have, but from the people who told me why they didn't like it I have picked up the above usual answer along with it being boring watching nothing happen and looking at the time clock

[Rivers17ncsu]

i am a true believer in spirits/demons/ghost, thats the thing :tongue:

[dell71]

Easy A
Directed by Will Gluck.
2010. Rated PG-13, 92 minutes.
Cast:
Emma Stone
Amanda Bynes
Alyson Michalka
Thomas Haden Church
Lisa Kudrow
Stanley Tucci
Patricia Clarkson
Penn Badgley
Dan Byrd
Malcolm McDowell

Keeping up a lie usually involves telling more lies. One mistruth simply begats the next. For most of us, this continues until the entire house of cards comes tumbling down on our own heads. Olive (Stone) is going through just such a thing.

It all starts innocently enough. She tells her best friend Rhiannon (Michalka) that she’s got a date this weekend when she really doesn’t in order to avoid going camping wither Rhi’s eccentric family. By the time Monday rolls around Rhi wants to know the juicy details of said date. Even though she’s done absolutely nothing at all since leaving school Friday afternoon, she tells Rhi that she lost her virginity to a college guy. Though said in confidence, this happens to be overheard by the wrong set of ears which, of course, share a head with the wrong set of lips. Olive suddenly finds herself to be the most scandalous girl in school. A select few know the tale to be false. However, most of these are boys who help perpetuate the myth, plus create more falsehoods. These guys are in search of changing their own rep and soon they’re lining up to pay Olive for the privilege of saying they slep with her, even though they hadn’t. As you can imagine, Olive soon comes to be viewed as the school whore.

Of course, this all coincides with Olive’s English class reading Nathaniel Hawthorne’s classic novel “The Scarlet Letter.” She is inspired by the plight of Hester Prynne and embraces her new found notoriety since before she was never talked about at all. She also yearns to piss off Marianne (Bynes), the school’s “Jesus freak.” Olive not only dons progressively sluttier outfits, she adorns them with a giant red “A” just like Prynne was made to wear. Things are going great, until she realizes they really aren’t.

Brazenly, but wisely, Easy A juxtaposes itself with the Hawthorne classic. It even takes the time to note the similarities and differences for us. It goes so far as to defend not only the novel, but the original film version while throwing barbs at the much more recent cinematic attempt starring Demi Moore. The movie gets much mileage from this, even filling in the uninformed on what happens in the book nearly as much as telling its own story. This makes the correlation between the two easily accessible and not just an in-joke to those of us who actually did the reading assignment in school.

The film doesn’t hide from its other major influence, John Hughes movies of the 1980s. Olive blatantly tells us she wishes her life were helmed by the famed director. We also get plenty of references and even short glimpses of those movies. As with “The Scarlett Letter,” this aids our audience, presumably mostly made up of teens and twentysomethings, get the jokes. However, this also highlights the one major flaw I find in Easy A. Our BFFs are too good looking. Part of the charm of movies like Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles and The Breakfast Club is that stars like Molly Ringwald and Ally Sheedy looked and felt like awkward teens relegated to high school’s lower social class, unsure whether they would ever blossom into the beautiful butterflies they so longed to be. It helped they were actually teenagers. Stone did a fine job with the role. She just can’t possibly give off that type of vibe. Her age, she’s 22 may have something to do with it. The natural confidence of someone already past the painful stages is difficult to contain. In addition, Michalka (also 22) as Rhiannon looks anything but the sexually frustrated, unable to get a boy co-ed we’re told she is. Let’s be honest, if she went to almost any high school in America looking the way she does here, she’d be constantly surrounded by an ever-widening swarm of athletes, rich kids, pretty boys and local college underclassmen. Beating them back with a stick might be a literal action for her instead of just a figure of speech.

The looks of the cast aside, I find Easy A funny in enough spots and very smart. It doesn’t often cause out loud laughter, but extracts the grins and soft chuckles that come from being able to relate to what we’re seeing. It may resonate more with females because their reputations are generally touchier topics. Still, I enjoyed it and had no problem becoming vested in the fate of our hero.

MY SCORE: 8/10

[Rivers17ncsu]

Really good movie. I liked it a lot as well. Also love me some Emma Stone

[Palooza]

oooh oooh spell it with your peas!

[dell71]

The American
Directed by Anton Corbijn.
2010. Rated R 105 minutes.
Cast:
George Clooney
Paolo Bonacelli
Violante Placido
Johan Leysen
Irina Björklund
Filippo Timi

Hitman/weaponeer Jack, or Edward (Clooney, the character goes by both), is on the run from “The Swedes” and contemplating a career change. His boss Pavel (Leysen) moves him to a small, remote Italian village while things are either smoothed over, or another job arises. He merely has to lay low and not make any “friends.” Not finding the town to his liking, he actually relocates to another small town. Laying low seems easy, at first. He has serious trouble with not making friends. First, there’s Father Benedetto (Boncelli), who takes a shine to him. Additionally, our hero has cast his own shine upon Clara (Placido), the prostitute he’s getting way too close to. Meanwhile, the next job comes. He’s tasked to build a special weapon for a hit someone else will make.

We spend day after day with Edward, learning his idiosyncracies and understanding his loneliness. Most of all, we feel his paranoia. We don’t mind that he sleeps with a gun. In fact, we’re glad he does. We realize there’s a serious possibility of danger around every corner and in every dark place or hiding behind every obstruction. The movie achieves this mostly through tension, only occasionally resorting to action. Tension sticks with us, appearing in a number of different guises. Sometimes it carries the threat of death, other times it doesn’t. When it does give us action, there are no Bourne style superhuman feats and no extended shootouts where hundreds of rounds are fired. Our action comes in short bursts of violence. If you’re looking for tons of car-chases, fist-fights, gun battles and explosions, look elsewhere. In my opinion, the reason this movie doesn’t get its just due is because we were led to believe it was packed full of these things. People went in expecting eye candy and other than Clara’s frequently naked body, they got food for thought. The lack of visual thrills fosters the belief this is a real guy in the real world, albeit a clandestine segment of it, but certainly more real than most other movies based on hitmen.

Another thing that helps us suspend belief is the lack of humor. This is no clever dark comedy like the similarly themed In Bruges. That is a great movie, but its over the top antics make it feel like an artistic interpretation of a bad situation. The American feels like it has been ripped from some poor slug’s life. Clooney is the perfect vessel to channel this guy’s angst. He just looks so worn and antsy, we get the idea that any types of jokes are lost on him. He can only think of what he wants to do next and what may actually happen next. Both scenarios scare the hell out of him.

All of this leads to a finale we sort of know is coming, but hope is not. Even worse for our emotions, its so close to not happening we can’t stand it. What could be teases us with how close it is, yet how far away it must have really been.

MY SCORE: 8/10